Veterans Benefits Administration History of GI Bill of gi bill atlanta 2018.pdf · The only U.S President to have been awarded the Medal of Honor was our 26th President, Theodore

Veterans Benefits Administration


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March

2018 VA SOUTHERN & EASTERN REGIONS VETERANS EDUCATION SCO CONFERENCE

Ron Scoggins Supervisory Education

Liaison Representative

Southern Region

History of GI Bill®



In the Beginning: The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE (First World War 1914-

1918)

• At the end of the First World War (then known as The Great War before we

learned to number them) millions of veterans were released into the job

market

• The veterans were given $60 and a train ticket home

• Congress passed a bonus law, but it would only pay out 20 years later

• This led to the infamous confrontation on The Mall in Washington, DC,

between the army and veterans requesting an early payout of the bonus

May through July 1932 during the Great Depression

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2

Associated Press - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA




THE SITUATION (Second World War 1939-1945)

• In 1944 the end of the Second World War was at least in sight & expected

in a year or two

• Millions of veterans would be released into a job market that had only

recently recovered from the Great Depression

• There were fears that the combination of war production gearing down and

millions more coming into the job market could trigger another depression

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THE SOLUTION • Plans were discussed as early as 1942 and 1943 in the National

Resources Planning Board for a series of education and training programs

• A survey found that 56% of soldiers thought a depression would follow the

war

• Harry W. Colmery (former Legion National Commander and former

Republican National Chairman) is credited with writing up the provisions of

the GI Bill

• First draft of the bill was issued January 6, 1944

• Many thought it was too sweeping in scope, and with 640 bills concerning

veterans pending in Congress, few gave it hope for enactment

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THE SOLUTION (continued) • John Stelle (National Commander of the American Legion and former

Governor of Illinois) headed the national lobbying effort with the

American Legion to pas a GI Bill© of Rights, including provisions for

education and training

• House and Senate both unanimously passed their own versions of the

GI Bill® in May 1944.

– Sponsored in the House by John Rankin and Edith Rogers, ranking

Democrat and Republican of the Veterans Affairs Committee

– Sponsored in the Senate by Champ Clark, a Legion founder and

chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

• It got stuck in the House-Senate Conference Committee when

members could not agree

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THE SOLUTION (continued)

• The major problem was a provision regarding unemployment benefits

– Another provision regarding education benefits met resistance from

some Senators because of the large amount of federal education

payments that would flow into their states without any local control.

This was resolved with a division of responsibilities

• The federal government would determine veteran eligibility and

pay the benefits

• The states would create SAAs that would determine at which

schools the veterans could use their GI Bill ®

money

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THE SOLUTION (continued)

• The Senate members agreed on one provision, but the House

delegation split 3-3 and the committee chair refused to vote an ill

member’s authorized proxy

• The tie vote was broken when the ill member, Rep. John Gibson of

Georgia, was flown in to cast his tie breaking vote in favor of the bill

• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s

Readjustment Act into law on June 22, 1944, in the presence of five

Legionnaires and several Members of Congress in attendance

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FYI The only U.S President to have been awarded the Medal of Honor was our

26th President, Theodore Roosevelt.

• Was recommended by all the officers in his chain of command, including

the commanding general of all troops in Cuba, Gen. William R. Shafter,

for leading the charge up San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898, in the Spanish

American War.

• Rejected by the War Department for political reasons (he complained in

writing regarding poor supply situation and the supply officer was fired)

• In 1996 Congress passed a law to repeal the statute of limitations on

military decorations, primarily to award the Medal of Honor to worthy

African Americans from World War II and Korea

• Theodore Roosevelt’s recommendation was re reviewed and

unanimously approved by Congress

• On January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of

Honor to Tweed Roosevelt, Theodore’s grandson

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1st Volunteer Cavalry with Lt. Col. Roosevelt at center

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Harper's Weekly - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA



3rd U.S. Cavalry, 1st Volunteer Cavalry (with Lt. Col. Roosevelt at center), and 10th U.S. Cavalry

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Harper's Weekly - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA




THE BILL

Provided for six benefits

• Education and Training

• Loan guaranty for a home, farm, or business

• Unemployment pay of $20 a week for up to 52 weeks (about $511 today)

• Job-finding assistance

• Top priority for building materials for VA hospitals

• Military review of dishonorable discharges

First three benefits administered by the Veterans

Administration which had only been created 14 years

previously in 1930

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https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.alpost170.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/va-seal-1930.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.alpost170.us/va-records-fire-article/&docid=5vau3qz7uTBc4M&tbnid=w0cyJRHgyNUpVM:&w=144&h=144&ei=ssgGVdeZA8OjNrP6gJAI&ved=0CAIQxiAwAA&iact=c




THE BILL – Education Provisions

• In the beginning it included two payments

– $500 per academic year for tuition and fees paid to colleges and

other institutions (about $12,800 today)

– Up to $50 per month housing allowance for single veterans and

more for married veterans (about $1,280 today)

• By 1948 the single veteran housing allowance was $75 per month and

the tuition and fee payment had been raised to $550 per academic year

• Does not sound like much but remember at that time

– A person could live off of $75 per month (about $1,910 today)

– A year’s tuition at Harvard was $580 (about $14,780 today)

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THE BILL – Education Provisions (continued)

Controversy

• Most college and university administrators were wary of all the veterans flooding their campuses because

– They didn’t have the room for them at that time

– They thought very few of them would be prepared for school or college and would take the GI Bill

® money and party or taking care of their

families would take up too much of their time to devote to studies

– Essentially, they didn’t think the vast majority of veterans were college material

• Up to this point in time only the well-to-do could afford college or those who received scholarships

• College was considered to be one of the privileges of the elite

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Controversy (continued)

• The veterans surprised the “experts”

They enrolled primarily at private institutions such as the Ivy League

schools, Duke, Stanford, Chicago, Southern California, Vanderbilt, etc.

They turned out to be the best students at most university campuses,

very serious about their studies and the opportunity afforded them by the

GI Bill ®

They enrolled to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, CPAs,

and in hundreds of other professions

According to most historians, the GI Bill ®

is considered along with the

Social Security Act to be one of the two most important pieces of

legislation in the twentieth century

The GI Bill© is credited with creating the modern middle class

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Controversy (continued)

How Many Trained

• By 1947, the peak year of the GI Bill ®

, veterans accounted for 49% of

college enrollment

• Out of a veteran population of 15,440,000, 7.8 million trained under the GI

Bill ®

o 2,230,000 in college

o 3,480,000 in other schools

o 1,400,00 in OJT

o 690,000 in farm training

Eligibility & Entitlement

• Veterans had to serve 90 days or more of active duty after September 16,

1940

• Have other than a dishonorable discharge

• Entitled to up to a maximum of 48 months

• This program ended July 25, 1956

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FYI Notable persons who used the GI Bill ® include:

• Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald R. Ford

• Vice President Al Gore

• Senator Robert Dole

• Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice John Paul

Stevens

• Journalists David Brinkley and John Chancellor

• Actors Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman and Jason Robards,

Jr., Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and singer Harry

Belafonte

• Comedians Johnny Carson and George Carlin

• Former Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry

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Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1952 The Korean Conflict GI Bill

®

Public Law 550 – Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952

• House Report 1375 was published in 1952 from the House Select

Committee to Investigate Educational Programs under the GI Bill

– It found a phenomenal growth of private profit schools in the years after

the passage of the GI Bill

• Many of those schools had little or no educational background

• Many public and private schools did well, but the greatest amount of

waste, inefficiency, and fraud occurred with vocational trades and

technical training in public and private schools

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®


• Teague Report

– This subcommittee produced a report that made three recommendations

• Limit approved courses to public schools, and

• Require that courses in private schools

– be in operation for at least one year, and

– maintain an enrollment of at least 25% nonveterans

– Congress adopted these rules with the following modifications:

• Require private schools to operate for two years and

• Require a maintain a minimum non veterans enrollment of 15%

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®


(cont.)

• Signed into law by Harry S. Truman on July 16, 1952

• Eligibility & Entitlement

o Veterans had to have served 90 days or more of active duty after June

27, 1950 and entered service prior to February 1, 1955

o Had to have other than a dishonorable discharge

o Veterans were paid a monthly stipend of up to $110 per month, slightly

more for veterans with dependents. Out of that they were expected to

pay tuition and fees as well as living expenses

o Entitled to education and training for a period of up to a maximum of

36 months

o Over 2,391,000 veterans used this GI Bill ®

for training at colleges, non-

degree schools, etc.

o The last payments under this program were made in 1965

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Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1966 Post Korean-Vietnam Era GI Bill

® – CH34

Public Law 358 – Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1966

• Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson on March 3, 1966

• Eligibility & Entitlement

o Veterans had to serve more than 180 continuous days of active duty

from February 1, 1955 through May 7, 1975


o Veterans were paid a monthly stipend of up to $100 per month, slightly

more for veterans with dependents, and eventually reached $376 per

month in 1984

o Entitled to education and training for a period of up to a maximum of 36

months. Later extended to 45 months if they served at least a year and a

half of qualifying service

o Over 8,200,000 veterans used this GI Bill ®

for training at colleges, non-

degree schools, etc.

o The last payments under this program were made in 1985

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FYI During the War of 1812 the United States invaded Canada to

hoping to add part of Canada to the United States.

• Regular U.S. Army was poorly disciplined and poorly clothed

and equipped

• Brigadier Gen. Winfield Scott trained three regiments

vigorously, taught camp hygiene, and clothed them. Could

not get regulation army blue, so had to settle for grey

uniforms as used by the militia

• U.S. Army invaded Canada in July 1814 near Niagara Falls

• On July 5, 1814, a British brigade under Gen. Phineas Riall

occupied open ground to the east of Chippewa Creek. Gen.

Scott crossed the creek with his brigade on the one bridge

available to attack

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FYI • Gen. Riall saw the grey militia uniforms and thought it would

be an easy fight since militia tended to run when confronted

with British regulars

• Gen. Scott’s brigade steadily marched under heavy fire and

maintained discipline causing Gen. Riall to exclaim, “Those

are regulars, by God!”

• After a 20 minute fight, including hand to hand with bayonets,

the British brigade was driven from the field.

• This is the only instance in military history where U.S. and

British regulars met on an open field in roughly equal

numbers

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FYI Tradition has it that the grey dress uniform of the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point,

NY, is modeled after and worn in honor of Scott’s brigade and the battle of Chippewa

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H. Charles McBarron – US Army Center of Military History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chippewa.jpg



Post Vietnam Era Educational Assistance Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP)

Eligibility & Entitlement

o Veterans had to serve more than 180 continuous days of active duty

after December 31, 1976, and before July 1, 1985


o Servicemembers paid into a VEAP account for a minimum of 12 months

up to 36 months in amounts of at least $25 per month, but no more than

$100 per month for a total contribution of no more than $2,700

o VA matched the veteran’s contributions $2 for every $1 contributed

o Veterans entitled to one month of full time benefits for each month

during which they made a contribution, but no more than 36 months

o Monthly benefit paid determined by dividing total amount of veteran’s

and VA’s contributions by number of months in which contributions were

paid

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Montgomery GI Bill ®

– Chapter 30 Post 9/11 GI Bill

®– Chapter 33

• Both of these programs are currently active

• It is worth noting that the Post-9/11 GI Bill ® was originally sponsored by

Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a combat Marine, who wanted to pattern a

new GI Bill ® after the World War II GI Bill ® with payments of tuition and

fees to the schools and a housing allowance to the veterans.

o His vision was a free education for veterans at public institutions of

higher learning

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FYI 1942 ROSE BOWL

• In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there were

very real fears in the government and population that the Japanese

might attack the U.S. west coast.

• Because of the fears of Japanese attack, the January 1, 1942 Rose

Parade was cancelled and the Rose Bowl game was for the only time

in its history, played outside of Pasadena

• Because Duke and Oregon State were invited to the Rose Bowl that

year, Duke coach Wallace Wade arranged to have the game played

at Duke’s home field in Durham, NC

• One Oregon State player, Jack Yoshihara, was not allowed to travel

with the team to Durham and instead was sent to an internment camp

in Idaho.

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FYI 1942 ROSE BOWL

• As the #2 ranked team in the country, Duke was favored by two

touchdowns. Oregon State won 20-16

• Most of the players were drafted or joined the military and served

during World War II – four were killed in action (three from Duke and

one from Oregon State)

• Charles Haynes (Duke) was left for dead on a hillside in Italy in 1944.

Seventeen hours later Frank Parker (Oregon State) and another

soldier ran up the hill with and carried him to safety, saving Hanes’

life.

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FYI

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Duke University Archives



FYI

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Charles Haynes and Frank Parker Courtesy of Terry Parker

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QUESTIONS?

Created by Ron Scoggins, Supervisory Education Liaison Representative, VA Central Office, Southern Region, March 2015. Revised March 2018

Veterans Benefits Administration History of GI Bill of gi bill atlanta 2018.pdf · The only U.S President to have been awarded the Medal of Honor was our 26th President, Theodore

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